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| Sunday, 8 August 2004 |
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No infringement on religious freedom - Buddhist organisations Statement by Buddhist organisations in response to a joint statement by the Catholic Bishops Conference and National Christian Council in June 2004.
The Catholic Bishops Conference and the National Christian Council have issued a Statement disapproving the enactment of a bill titled 'Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act No. of 2004' published in the Gazette on May 28, 2004 and presented by Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhita Thero, MP, as a Private Member's Bill, and another suggested draft approved by the Cabinet. The said Statement categorically states that :- 1. If the said drafts are enacted the freedom of thought conscience and religion of all Sri Lankans will be seriously eroded 2. These drafts contravene the fundamental human rights of our people enshrined in our Constitution as well as accepted prevailing international conventions and norms. 3. Such legislation, given today's political climate, will destroy the freedom of choice and the character of pluralism, both essential pillars of a modern democratic society. 4. All the four religions in our country have cherished and exercised the right to propagate their religion through out the world. The fact that the missionaries are sent out from Sri Lanka to propagate religion in other countries demonstrates our appreciation and our exercise of that fundamental right in other countries. 5. No fetter should be placed in the path of the exercise of the freedom to adopt a religion of his free choice by legislative or other means. 6. All religions teach their adherence to perform works of charity and all such works of charity cannot be permitted to be criminalised on the assertions that they serve as allurements. We regret to note that the authors of this Statement have completely misdirected themselves on the objectives of the said draft and the aims of the laws and other international covenants dealing with the freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and have thereby raised issues which grossly distort the true position relating to this subject and attempted to create a wrong impression in the minds of the public about these bills. Therefore we are constrained to respond to the above statement through a rational analysis of the issues raised by the Catholic Bishops and the Christian Council in relation to existing laws and covenants. Our analysis will demonstrate that if a person's rightful freedom to practice his own religion, which is guaranteed under our Constitution or any international human rights covenant is to be infringed on by another, then it is imperative that legislation must be in place to protect such person's rightful freedom and to deal with those oppressors who attempt to infringe on such right through coercion, allurement or the like. The said drafts basically target for punishment those who place fetters on the religious freedom of others but do not restrict the rightful freedom of those who practice or adopt a religion of their free choice, a feature of the drafts that the Bishops and Christian Council have conveniently overlooked. The draft presented as a Private Member's Bill however carries a provision that a person who converts his religion must report such change to the Divisional Secretary. One may be justified in interpreting that this provision amounts to a fetter placed on the freedom of one wishing to adopt a religion of his choice, but this one requirement does not make the entire draft an infringement on one's religious freedom. Improper The Catholic Bishops and the Christian Council in their wisdom declare that these drafts contravene accepted prevailing international conventions and norms. On the contrary the provisions of the drafts seek to uphold the relevant provisions in international conventions. We draw their attention to Article 18(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which reads, "No one shall be subjected to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice". Similar provisions are found in other international and regional conventions. Accordingly, as envisaged in these covenants, the drafts seek to prevent a person having to adopt a religion by coercion or other forms of improper conduct. Article 18(1) of the said Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and many other international and regional covenants recognise the need to subject the freedom to manifest ones religion or belief to limitations prescribed by law as are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. It is pertinent to note that in our own Constitution too similar provision can be found in Article 15(7) which subjects the freedom to manifest ones religion enshrined in Article 14(1)(e) and other Articles, to such restriction as may be prescribed by law in the interest of national security, public order and the protection of public health or morality or for the purpose of securing the due recognition and the respect for the rights and freedoms of others, or of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a democratic society. It is a matter of regret that the two learned organisations have failed to recognise the above provisions as a sound basis for such a law, instead of erroneously asserting that the drafts contravene the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution as well as accepted prevailing international conventions and norms. This assertion appears to be a clear attempt to misdirect the public. In this regard it is also pertinent to bring to the attention of the Catholic Bishops and the Christian Council, the following observations made by the well known European Court of Human Rights in the case of Kokinakis vs Greece (1993) with regard to conversions of persons by improper means. "First of all, a distinction has to be made between bearing Christian witness and improper proselytism. The former corresponds to true evangelism, which a report drawn up in 1956 under the auspices of the World Council of Churches describes as an essential mission and a responsibility of every Christian and every Church. The latter represent a corruption or a deformation of it. It may, according to the same report, take the form of activities offering material or social advantages with a view to gaining new members for a Church or exerting improper pressure on people in distress or in need; it may even entail the use of violence or brainwashing; more generally, it is not compatible with respect for the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of others". One would wonder whether the European Court had their minds set on Sri Lanka when they wrote the last two sentences of the above observation. They truly portray the Sri Lankan scene and establish the importance of legislation for Sri Lanka against improper proselytism. This observation also shows how charity may be criminalised. Legislation The proposed drafts seek to prohibit use of force, fraud and allurement to change a person's religion. The Catholic Bishops and the Christian Council states, "We affirm our commitment to protecting the individual's freedom to have or adopt any religion or belief of his or her free choice. No fetter should be placed in the path of the exercise of that freedom by legislative or other means". Surely the fetter in the drafts is on the use of such force fraud or allurement on another so as to compel or entice him to change his religion, which can under no circumstances be interpreted as exercising his free choice to adopt a religion, and if the Bishops' and Christian Council's commitment to protect the said freedom are genuine, they should support the introduction of legislation to curb the use of force, fraud or allurement to change another's religion. It needs to be reminded that as far as Buddhists missionaries are concerned no one can or has ever pointed a finger at them to say they are resorting to force, fraud or allurement in teaching the Dhamma in other countries. On the contrary their approach has been exemplary and their hosts appreciate their work and have accepted them with open arms. They are not depending on the charity of any other religious organisation for the strict exercise of their legitimate rights under the various international human rights covenants. Therefore to draw a parallel between Christian missionaries in Sri Lanka engaging in improper conversions and the Buddhist missionaries abroad who should be an example to the former, is mischievous and uncalled for. If the Catholic Bishops and the Christian Council are committed to support the maintenance of a pluralistic society and to uphold the essential characteristics of a modern democratic society, they as the leading Christian groups have a duty to ensure that true evangelism is not mixed up with improper proselytism which invariably will destroy the very pluralism that they are advocating. The Catholic Bishops and the Christian Council have also expressed fears that the proposed legislation will pave the way for the oppression of minority religions. These fears are completely unfounded and not supported by past experiences. On the contrary we stress that for thousands of years religious harmony has been maintained in this country by the majority Buddhists, even at the height of the violent oppression of Buddhists by Christian missionaries. Recently a handful of Buddhists are alleged to have reacted to the unchecked activities of the Christian Fundamentalists under grave provocation and if this scenario is allowed to continue without the introduction of the proposed legislation, then we are likely to see a complete breakdown of religious harmony and the legitimate rights of the minority religions in this country jeopardised. The organisations that have subscribed to this statement are; Success Colombo Lanka Bauddha Sanrakshana Sabhawa, All Ceylon Women's Buddhist Congress, National Council of Buddhist Women Dharmacharini Movement, Sadaham Charika Centre for Buddhist Action, Sakyadhitta Sri Lanka (International Association of Buddhist Women) Editor Buddhist Times Thawalama Development Foundation. |
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